Port City native ends college band career at home

Published: Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 12:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, April 26, 2013 at 10:20 a.m.

If you have to go, you might as well go out in style.

Facts

Michael Howard

Age: 23Hometown: WilmingtonHigh School: New Hanover College and major: North Carolina A&T, Business ManagementBest summer job: McDonalds (the only one I've had)Career goals: To work in the video game industryFavorite meal at the school cafeteria: Don't go to the cafe too often, but it's usually pizzaBooks: Haven't read a full book in a while, but I like to read manga (Japanese comics).Music: Usually hip-hop and R&B, but I like all kinds of music.

“It was so bittersweet,” reflected Michael Howard of Wilmington. “To be marching down Third Street in the Azalea Festival. Just as we turned onto Market Street, somehow I saw my mother and godmother in the crowd, smiling at me. It was very nostalgic. But I kept it together.”

Howard had little choice – he was marching, as he has done the past four years, in the middle of the wildly energetic, jaw-dropping band from North Carolina A&T, known up and down the East Coast as the “Blue and Gold Marching Machine.” There was no time to miss a piston-like step, let alone stop and wave.

Howard and the Marching Machine, were wearing backup, wind-suit type uniforms as their formal parade duds had long since been packed away after a string of holiday appearances, including one in New York City at the 2012 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

The band got its kinetic self back together for one last musical treat – the Azalea Festival appearance and Howard's hometown swan song.

He played it on his euphonium, an instrument he's been perfecting since Williston Middle School and later with the New Han­over High School marching band.

“I was thinking about the times I marched in the Azalea parade with New Hanover High,” said Howard, a senior at A&T in Greensboro who will graduate this summer. “I have been doing this my whole life. And then I realized I may not be doing it again.”

It turns out that spotting his mother was not by chance.

“I knew this was his last parade, so I asked a sheriff's deputy on the corner if I could scoot right out almost into the street,” said Harriet Howard, a former preschool teacher who once played flute at Chestnut Junior High (now Snipes Academy). “I told him my son would be marching by with A&T. And he let me!

“I haven't missed a concert since he started playing in sixth grade,” Harriet Howard said. “He knows any time he looks up, he can count on seeing me.”

When A&T finished its Azalea performance, which elicited wows up and down the parade route, Howard moved quietly through the crowd, catching up with old friends, high school band mates and plenty of family. He spoke almost in a whisper, reflecting his reserved personality rather than exhaustion.

“He may seem reserved and quiet,” said Timothy McCoy, the band director at New Hanover High, “but he is trained as a performer, as a musician. They can turn it on when it's time. He is such a good, all-around kid. A good leader. He would pull other band members aside quietly and help them, offer advice.”

The A&T band, a school icon that travels the East Coast, recruited Howard with a $2,000 per year scholarship stipend. He's the only New Hanover grad in the band.

McCoy said very few high school band members march all the way through a college career, even though bands at North Carolina State, Winston-Salem State and Appalachian State draw kudos across the collegiate landscape. Howard never thought of giving it up.

“The band is the reason I came to A&T,” he said. “I saw them one time when I was in high school. And that was it!”

But now this is it.

“I realize I may never play music in an organized way again,” he said. “My goal after graduating this summer is to own my own business, a video game store. In Atlanta. I'm not sure why Atlanta, but I just have this feeling that it's where I'm supposed to be.”

A&T is glad that Greensboro is where Howard wanted to be these past four years.

“Michael has been phenomenal for us,” said Kenneth Ruff, A&T director of bands. “He's a very disciplined person. He's a musician and this band is part of his life. He's also in ensembles, pep and marching bands, plus the band fraternity.

“Michael is quiet and reserved, but he has the passion. And it takes all types to make a band.”

Ruff said he considers the band a “family,” and he keeps a watchful eye over them from the moment new members come to A&T.

“It's hard, the practicing and all,” Michael Howard said. “But we work together to build each other up. We're real close with one another. We really are a family.”

<p>If you have to go, you might as well go out in style.</p><p>“It was so bittersweet,” reflected Michael Howard of Wilmington. “To be marching down Third Street in the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/entertainment10"><b>Azalea Festival</b></a>. Just as we turned onto Market Street, somehow I saw my mother and godmother in the crowd, smiling at me. It was very nostalgic. But I kept it together.”</p><p>Howard had little choice – he was marching, as he has done the past four years, in the middle of the wildly energetic, jaw-dropping band from North Carolina A&T, known up and down the East Coast as the “Blue and Gold Marching Machine.” There was no time to miss a piston-like step, let alone stop and wave.</p><p>Howard and the Marching Machine, were wearing backup, wind-suit type uniforms as their formal parade duds had long since been packed away after a string of holiday appearances, including one in New York City at the 2012 Macy's <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/holidays01"><b>Thanksgiving</b></a> Day parade.</p><p>The band got its kinetic self back together for one last musical treat – the Azalea Festival appearance and Howard's hometown swan song. </p><p>He played it on his euphonium, an instrument he's been perfecting since Williston Middle School and later with the New Han­over High School marching band.</p><p>“I was thinking about the times I marched in the Azalea parade with New Hanover High,” said Howard, a senior at A&T in Greensboro who will graduate this summer. “I have been doing this my whole life. And then I realized I may not be doing it again.”</p><p>It turns out that spotting his mother was not by chance. </p><p>“I knew this was his last parade, so I asked a sheriff's deputy on the corner if I could scoot right out almost into the street,” said Harriet Howard, a former preschool teacher who once played flute at Chestnut Junior High (now Snipes Academy). “I told him my son would be marching by with A&T. And he let me!</p><p>“I haven't missed a concert since he started playing in sixth grade,” Harriet Howard said. “He knows any time he looks up, he can count on seeing me.”</p><p>When A&T finished its Azalea performance, which elicited wows up and down the parade route, Howard moved quietly through the crowd, catching up with old friends, high school band mates and plenty of family. He spoke almost in a whisper, reflecting his reserved personality rather than exhaustion.</p><p>“He may seem reserved and quiet,” said Timothy McCoy, the band director at New Hanover High, “but he is trained as a performer, as a musician. They can turn it on when it's time. He is such a good, all-around kid. A good leader. He would pull other band members aside quietly and help them, offer advice.”</p><p>The A&T band, a school icon that travels the East Coast, recruited Howard with a $2,000 per year scholarship stipend. He's the only New Hanover grad in the band.</p><p>McCoy said very few high school band members march all the way through a college career, even though bands at North Carolina State, Winston-Salem State and Appalachian State draw kudos across the collegiate landscape. Howard never thought of giving it up.</p><p>“The band is the reason I came to A&T,” he said. “I saw them one time when I was in high school. And that was it!”</p><p>But now this is it.</p><p>“I realize I may never play music in an organized way again,” he said. “My goal after graduating this summer is to own my own business, a video game store. In Atlanta. I'm not sure why Atlanta, but I just have this feeling that it's where I'm supposed to be.”</p><p>A&T is glad that Greensboro is where Howard wanted to be these past four years.</p><p>“Michael has been phenomenal for us,” said Kenneth Ruff, A&T director of bands. “He's a very disciplined person. He's a musician and this band is part of his life. He's also in ensembles, pep and marching bands, plus the band fraternity. </p><p>“Michael is quiet and reserved, but he has the passion. And it takes all types to make a band.”</p><p>Ruff said he considers the band a “family,” and he keeps a watchful eye over them from the moment new members come to A&T.</p><p>“It's hard, the practicing and all,” Michael Howard said. “But we work together to build each other up. We're real close with one another. We really are a family.”</p><p>Now he'll be an alumni member of the family.</p><p>“I'll never forget this,” Howard said. “It's why I came here.”</p><p>Features: 343-2343</p>